Left-hand Dagger With S-shaped Guard, Openwork Ring And Silver Handle

Left hand dagger with S guard, openwork ring and silver handle"

Northern Italy or Germany, around 1560-1600.

Superb and rare Renaissance dagger, used as an auxiliary weapon in the rapier duel, perfectly illustrating the alliance between ornamental refinement and martial efficiency.

The steel blade, straight and slender, has a middle gutter on the first half. The wrought iron guard is distinguished by its long engraved curved spiral quillons (S-shaped) and especially by a large side ring decorated with an openwork rosette, giving the weapon both a protective role and a decorative elegance.

The handle, rare and precious, is covered with punched silver plates, finely guilloched, surrounded by a baguette also in silver, testifying to a prestigious commission.

The pommel, in the shape of a faceted pear, completes the balance and aesthetics of the whole.

This so-called "left-handed" dagger, by its combination of silver and worked wrought iron, probably belonged to a high-ranking gentleman or an officer, and was as much an instrument of combat as a sign of social status.

Comparable copies are kept in major public collections, including the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, the Wallace Collection in London, and the Musée de l'Armée in Paris.

Dimensions: total length 47.5 cm

Materials: steel, wared iron, silver

Condition: remarkable conservation, homogeneous patina, intact silver, stabilized traces of old oxidation.

Museum piece – Exceptional rarity.

A left-handed dagger of this type, with an openwork ring and a silver handle, is a rare piece in the art market, representing the top of civil productions of white weapons of the Renaissance.